Nashville
A Music City day around the Opry
How to fill a Nashville day before an Opry night: the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Ryman's self-guided tour, Broadway and Music Row.
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Spend the day downtown and the evening in Music Valley. Start at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, walk to the Ryman for its self-guided tour, look in on Broadway's music bars, then head east to the Opry House for the show. On a winter Ryman date, the show itself is downtown and the day becomes a walking one.
Why Nashville is Music City
The nickname dates from 1950, when a WSM announcer ad-libbed on air that the sounds listeners were hearing came from Music City, U.S.A.; the city's visitors bureau still uses it today. The name grew out of the Opry: recording studios arrived in the late 1940s to record artists who played on the show, and Music Row, southwest of downtown, became the heart of the music business. A day before an Opry night is a chance to see where that story is told.
Music Row
Music Row is a historic district southwest of downtown, centred on 16th and 17th Avenues South, which carry the names Music Square East and Music Square West within the district. It began to develop in 1954, when the first commercially successful recording studios and music offices opened along 16th Avenue South, and it still houses record labels, publishing houses, studios and radio businesses. It is a working district, not a museum: a short drive-by or walk between the bigger stops is enough.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Chartered in 1964 and opened in 1967, the museum is one of the world's largest centres for the study of American country music, and it holds one of the world's most extensive collections of country music artefacts. The self-guided visit moves through recordings, films, instruments and stage clothes, past photo archives and listening stations, and ends in the Hall of Fame Rotunda among the plaques of the inductees. Give it a full morning; it rewards time.
The Ryman, self-guided
The Ryman was the Opry's home from 1943 to 1974 and is still a working concert hall. The self-guided tour opens with a multimedia introduction, then lets you explore the auditorium at your own pace, with exhibits and short films about the artists who played there and the chance of a photo on its stage. It is a good way to see the Mother Church of Country Music if your Opry night is at the Opry House rather than downtown.
Broadway and the District
Downtown's music clubs and honky-tonk bars cluster on Lower Broadway, Second Avenue and Printer's Alley, an area often called the District, where a local newspaper once counted five blocks of bars with live music and no cover charge. It is a lively stop between the museum and the drive to Music Valley, and a natural place to end the night if you come back downtown after the show.
If your Opry night is at the Ryman
On a winter date billed as Opry at the Ryman, the whole day stays downtown. The museum and the Ryman both stand on Rep. John Lewis Way in the city centre, so you can spend the afternoon at the museum, eat nearby and walk to the show. Skip the Ryman's self-guided tour that day if you like, since you will be inside the hall for the evening anyway, and use the time for Music Row or a longer museum visit.
Putting the day together
Book the evening first, because the Opry confirms tickets within 48 hours, and check whether your date is at the Opry House or at the Ryman. For an Opry House night, keep the daytime downtown and leave time to drive east before the show. For a winter Ryman night, everything is within walking distance. If you would rather go behind the scenes at the Opry House itself, the backstage tour runs in the daytime, and another guide compares it with the show.
Read next: Opry show or backstage tour?
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